The Real Problem with “Doubt Your Doubts”

Much has been written in the few days since President Uchtdorf delivered his recent General Conference address, but few things have caused as much of a stir as his advice to “doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.” Mere seconds after he had uttered these words, there appeared on Uchtdorf’s official Facebook page a cutesy Pinterest-style meme, copyrighted by Intellectual Reserve Inc., ready for mass sharing.

Of all the wonderful things said in this talk, I was disappointed that this meme seems to have been the most memorable for so many. As of the time of writing, Facebook reports almost 9000 shares of the above link. Add to that the number of “likes” each one of those shares likely received and you’ve got a pretty big number. But among the intended audience of the remark–those who are dealing with doubt– not only did this advice fail to resonate, but it was actually met with some backlash.

“Circular reasoning!” cried some.

“Mental gymnastics!” cried others.

“Why not just follow the evidence?!”

“Cognitive dissonance!”

One person wrote a satirical letter from a woman describing how the advice to doubt her doubts had saved her marriage because it made her second-guess her impulse to investigate further when she discovered strong evidence that her husband was having an affair. The obvious point of this letter was this: if you’ve already decided what the answer is, there’s no sense in asking the question in the first place.

I hear their frustration. I feel their pain. I am no stranger to the difficult, doubt-inducing questions that so many are dealing with. I’ve read these people’s stories, and lived some of them myself. Stories about family members and friends who think they are broken. Spouses who threaten to leave them if they don’t start believing as they used to. Hours and hours spent perusing apologetics books and websites, desperately seeking answers, only to find themselves even more convinced that their doubts are legitimate. I empathize with them, and I mourn with them. As Jana Riess recently reminded us, there is much room for improvement in how our church addresses doubt. Frankly, it is not their fault that they are experiencing doubts, and I think President Uchtdorf would agree. And as a disclaimer, my intent in this post is not to counsel anyone on how to resolve those doubts. I probably have as many questions as the next person.

And yet, something about these critiques feels wrong to me. When I first began seeing the backlash, I wondered, does anyone actually think this is bad advice? Do those who are so offended by this think that we should all just abandon ship at the first sign of rough waters? I should think not. Because the truth is, we’ve all encountered people who would do well to doubt some of their doubts, and it’s not simply because they don’t toe the party line anymore; rather, some of their doubts are based on misinformation, poor reasoning, hasty conclusions, and emotional, knee-jerk responses. Then what explains all this frustration?

I think this phrase exposes a chasm that divides the “doubters” on one hand from the “believers” on the other. The real problem with the advice to doubt your doubts is that it’s so devoid of objective meaning that it permits listeners to interpret it as they please. At best, “doubt your doubts” is a rhetorical platitude reflecting the paradigm of those who advocate a life of faith in the face of doubt. At worst, it is the beginning of an infinite regress problem. That is, if doubting my doubts is to be taken as sound methodology for uncovering Truth, then shouldn’t I also doubt my doubts about my doubts? Likewise, I should probably doubt my doubts about the doubts I have about my doubts. Where does it end?! It’s turtles all the way down!

The message I hear from Uchtdorf is this: “My faith works for me, and I believe it can work for you too if you don’t dismiss it too hastily.” And I believe him to be sincere when he says that. Regardless of what we believe, it should hardly be surprising to any of us that someone in President Uchtdorf’s position would extol the benefits of a life of faith.

Now, I don’t know what experience President Uchtdorf has had with doubt, but I suspect that many of those who latched on to this catchy phrase and flooded the internet with it are scarcely aware of the issues that plague those who grapple with doubt. It’s easy to tell someone to choose faith in the face of doubt when you don’t even understand what’s causing those doubts in the first place, but it’s not very helpful. Judging by the negative interpretations people have offered to the “doubt your doubts” line, a lot of people have been receiving a lot of unhelpful advice.

And yet, focusing on the ignorant is in some ways a strawman, because there are many people who do understand those questions but continue stronger than ever in their faith. I’m consistently amazed at the ways people have found to reconcile their faith with their questions. I don’t agree with all of them, I don’t believe all of these ways are of equal value, nor do I believe in a one-size-fits-all approach, but I’ve noticed a common thread. Their faith normally takes a different form than it did before they wrestled with the ins and outs of Joseph Smith’s polygamy/polyandry, the Book of Abraham “translation,” the role of women in the Church, or whatever else they may have struggled with personally. Ultimately, a thorough examination of our doubts can lead us to ask the deepest questions of our soul, and it occurs to me that whatever particular beliefs we end up with, there can be tremendous value in the process by which we arrive at those beliefs, if we look for it. I believe doubt should affect our faith, as it has for so many I respect. To me, faith born of doubt is the only faith worth having. Indeed, doubt is one of the essential ingredients of faith.

To the honest seeker, I honor your journey wherever it takes you and trust that you will find your own answers. Regardless of where you end up, I hope you will not let a good faith crisis go to waste.

Derek Lee was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He graduated from BYU in 2008. He currently resides in Calgary with his wife and daughter, where he works as an engineer in the petroleum refining industry.

17 Comments

I don’t dislike the idea of doubting your doubts. I dislike the implication that those who have lost their faith didn’t doubt their doubts enough, or that doubting your doubts will save you from doubting your faith.
Doubts your doubts, yes. But also doubts preconceived notions and assumptions.

“The real problem with the advice to doubt your doubts is that it’s so devoid of objective meaning that it permits listeners to interpret it as they please. At best, “doubt your doubts” is a rhetorical platitude reflecting the paradigm of those who advocate a life of faith in the face of doubt. At worst, it is the beginning of an infinite regress problem.”

I would venture to guess everybody thinks it’s a good idea to not make huge significant changes in your life without taking the time to vet your doubts. What bothered people was how this phrase was being used and interpreted. My extended orthodox family used it in a way to devalue the experience of those who doubt….to say see you should just choose faith and realize those doubts of yours are not a big deal/valid/significant and can’t be trusted.

And he probably does. I don’t think that is the point. As mention in one of the comments above is about giving them a good thought before making a decision about something that plays a big role in our lives.

Remember Jesus while hanging on the cross when he said: “Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani” – (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) Even the Savior, the Jehovah of the old testament was susceptible to challenges of mortality. Or didn’t he know that God was with him? …… I could go on a whole sermon on President Utchdorg having doubts. I am sure he does. But It is part of the process:)

As someone who having a crisis of faith just before conference, it was the exact message I needed to hear. We heard that the church is and always run by imperfect people (shocking). The talk was a message from my Father in Heaven who knew I needed to hear it.

I really liked this comment and wish others would read it and reread it.

In this Church that honors personal agency so strongly, that was restored by a young man who asked questions and sought answers, we respect those who honestly search for truth. It may break our hearts when their journey takes them away from the Church we love and the truth we have found, but we honor their right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience, just as we claim that privilege for ourselves.

It is all about balance. Whenever I find myself going too far one way I tend to correct myself the other way. This is true of church teachings as well, we can find ourselves going down the path of disproving teachings or we can find ourselves going down the path of being a blind apologist that sees no room for doubt. The key is to find the middle ground and use reason along with spiritual impressions. I have found many great things about the Church to be true and feel true, but also many hard things to be true as well. What it all means?…I am not sure yet.
Bob Rees during a Thoughtful Faith podcast said thisGod has blessed us with both a heart and a mind, and expects us to make use of both of them in search for truth and in trying to find him and our relationship with him. I distrust two kinds of Mormons, those who never think and those who only think. I think it is the dialogue between our hearts and our minds that gives us the greatest chance of finding truth.
I try and stay true to that quote.

The focus on doubt concerns me a bit. As if it is some invisible force to be tested/mastered for our favor. People don’t just have doubts, there is disbelief, or entirely new belief. “Doubting” does not necessary need to take place. The real question to be asked is; why should they trust us again? How may we become credible again? After that person has discovered they had been lied to about everything that is most important,(EVERYTHING), can trust really be established again? Meanwhile, the church continue’s to preach those very lies to your friends and family.

If it were possible to make out with a blog post this is the one I would choose. I admit that in no small measure comes from the fact that this is the exact topic that drove my own post (on this very site) regarding Uchtdorf’s talk the Monday after Conference.

It is so wholly outside of my experience to think that there is a camp of doubters and a camp of those with faith, because as you said, doubt is an (important!!!) ingredient in true faith. If one has no doubt, what sends them seeking? I consider myself a faithful person, but I have had many many doubts.

Those doubts and finding answers that worked for me are the treasured collection of my testimony. So much so that I honestly have a hard time believing that any individual is made up of all doubt or all faith. In fact, acknowledging that one is faithful implies doubts because there would be nothing to be faithful about.

It makes me sorry that such a deep concept has been mass marketed for Pinterest and meme-ified for those who would simply jump on it and ignore what is actually being said here. It also makes me sad that enough people are so raw and hurting that this portion of the talk wounded them.

In AA (and I am sure other “anonymous” programs)one of the steps is to take a fearless moral inventory; essentially a cold hard look in the mirror. I think more people would benefit from this exercise because I think that it would lead them to realize that we are a lot more alike as a species than we want to believe we are which would ultimately create the empathy that needs to be pre-existing for this talk to do it’s best work within us.

I think the biggest problem with “doubt your doubts” is that it’s too easy to parrot without thinking about. So when a sincere young person asks his/her parents, YM/YW leader, bishop etc. a question hoping for a real answer, all they’ll get is a quick, superficial “doubt your doubts” in reply, leaving them as doubtful as before.

My primary concern is that people I know just latch on to the first part “doubt your doubts”, as if his talk was an injunction to literally assume that your doubts are a mistake.

Whereas it seems to me that his talk was more a call to not make a jump from one dogmatism (of faith) to another (of doubt). An invitation to give oneself room to live with the tension of doubt and faith at the same time, and a reminder to challenge your new ideas as much as you might currently be challenging your old ones.

To me, that is the only way that catchy phrase works with the rest of talk. His talk recognized the sincerity of seekers; it also called on seekers to remember that their faith has value, even if it is shifting, and to give credit to what their faith has brought and can continue to bring, even as their doubts cause their faith to shift and adjust.

After all, his statement still implies that you can doubt your faith. It just calls us to prioritizes our faith – which is to me a good prioritization, since faith – whatever we are putting it in, is by nature a positive force.

Allan:
The focus on doubt concerns me a bit. As if it is some invisible force to be tested/mastered for our favor. People don’t just have doubts, there is disbelief, or entirely new belief. “Doubting” does not necessary need to take place. The real question to be asked is; why should they trust us again? How may we become credible again? After that person has discovered they had been lied to about everything that is most important,(EVERYTHING), can trust really be established again? Meanwhile, the church continue’s to preach those very lies to your friends and family…

… and expects them to teach those same lies to their children too.

And they wonder why young folk are leaving? You can’t preach honesty and integrity then expect you to disregard these ‘for the sake of the Lord’. Lying for Jesus screams of FRAUD.

Can’t lie to my kids, sorry. They might grow to hate me the same way I now hate everyone who lied to me about church history. Why on earth would God make us do that?

I’ll doubt my doubts when they stop spouting lies from the pulpit and the church manuals.

If something is true then you shouldnt have any doubts about it. And while adressing them objectively it should become clear whether the doubt was necessary. Does anyone doubt the effects of gravity? Does anyone doubt that walking on broken glass will cut their feet? No, because we KNOW these things are true.

If you’re having doubts, it’s telling your something might be wrong. If you’re doubting a belief, then look at the objective evidence for or against it, and then make decision.

“Doupt you doupts, but don’t doupt your faith”
=
“Doupt any evidence that is showing you something might be false, but don’t doupt the belief in something without evidence”

Doubts are you. They are your thoughts, a representation of your ability to reason, and they are a result of the normal process of analyzing reality.
He might as well have said: “Doubt yourself before you doubt Church authority”
It’s just a repetition of the same old mantra every church needs to survive, which is to make blind obedience the highest virtue of all.
It turns out that a “feeling” a “burning in the bosom” or even a “powerful spiritual experience” are NOT evidence for anything. In fact, they’re a trivial thing for our brains to produce without any outside help.
Yet, armed only with a few of these, some confirmation bias, and a desire to belong, thousands stand up on Sunday and proclaim to “know” this and that to be true.
And how, pray tell, is faith a virtue? Why would a intelligent God promote such a thing? “Faith is believing in things we can’t “see” (meaning “perceive in any way”) but ARE TRUE!” Talk about circular reasoning! It is dishonest to claim that something for which there’s no evidence is true. And again, your personal feelings when Bishop Bob healed your depression or when you got sealed to your grandpa in the temple are NOT evidence of anything.

Belief is a choice. When Paul wrote that faith was “evidence of things not seen” that meant the evidence in the believer. The action one takes based on that belief is faith. That is a principle of action and power that causes us to leap over the gaps that remain in our knowledge to achieve great things until that knowledge comes. I agree Mormons should learn to be comfortable saying they believe something rather than saying they know something. But that’s a cultural habit, not a doctrinal feature.

My understanding of the principle was that my doubts serve as gaps in the puzzle I’m forever piecing together. They are placeholders, not to be feared nor to cause me shame. But I need to remember how they rank against knowledge. And when the pieces come to fill them in, I should welcome them, and dismiss the doubts with fond recollection of their sweet purpose in my growth.

The Barker Brothers’ Projects

“…we are asking our Church leaders to inquire of the Lord if the one year wait on the temple sealing can be changed…”

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Martin Luther King Jr.

These videos were created for Latter-day Saint parents and allies to voice their love for their LGBT brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. They want to give a message of comfort and support to other parents who are navigating the difficult conflicts that can arise in families around this issue.

“Cogito!” (“I think!”) follows the intellectual adventures of a recovering academic outside the walls of academia.

Quote of the Month

"It is not as a child that I believe and confess Jesus Christ. My hosanna is born of a furnace of doubt." (Fyodor Dostoevsky)